


Bright

by Lunatik_Pandora



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas, Christmas Decorations, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatik_Pandora/pseuds/Lunatik_Pandora
Summary: Teddy helps Harry and Ginny decorate their first Christmas tree.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 18
Kudos: 45
Collections: Harry Potter Fanfiction Club Presents: Christmas 2020





	Bright

Harry was standing in the middle of the kitchen, Teddy on his hip, nodding along quite seriously as the toddler babbled nonsensically about dragons. Ginny caught his eye from across the room, and they shared a small, secret smile; Charlie had obviously started early with his indoctrination of the next generation.

“--An’ he ‘ROOOOAR’--” Teddy roared fiercely, his hair briefly flashing bright orange, his tiny hands formed into little claws. “An’ he breeve fire!”

“Wow!” Harry gasped, managing to keep the laughter out of his voice. “Was he scary?”

“Yeah!”

“Did he fly?”

“Yeah! He fly fast like--” He threw his little hands up wildly, making sounds like the rush of air from the Floo. Harry’s grin turned cheeky.

“Was he faster than Aunt Ginny?”

“NO!” Teddy shrieked, sounding absolutely scandalised by the concept of anything flying faster than his Aunt Ginny, bless him.

“Oh, well, that’s good then. Though, speaking of your Aunt Ginny,” Harry shifted the toddler to his other hip and pointed to her where she stood in the doorway. “I think she wants us to follow her to the sitting room.”

The little boy cheered, his hair shifting Weasley red, freckles appearing over his nose as Harry walked them into the other room behind his girlfriend. But Teddy fell completely silent when he saw the tree.

It wasn't a particularly large tree, nor was it even a pretty one; it was crooked and thin on one side, and had already shed enough needles to coat the carpet in a thick layer of green.

But it was theirs.

Not the Weasleys'. Not the Dursleys'. Not even his.

Theirs.

Ginny had been living with him for months now, but it still thrilled him every time he saw something about the house that she'd added her own touch to.

Their dishes. Their wardrobe. Their bed -- oh, he could write sonnets about that bed. Not very good ones, of course, but it would get the point across effectively he was certain.

Ginny had already hung the tinsel and the fairy lights, glittering in technicolour among the boughs. All that was left was the baubles.

"You ready to help us decorate the tree, Teddy bear?" Ginny asked sweetly, reaching her arms out, and Harry passed him to her with practised ease. "You can put them up wherever you like. I'm just going to help you reach."

"Okay!"

She picked up a bright red bauble and showed him how to hang it from the tree. Teddy watched her with characteristic seriousness, a Lupin down to his bones. He took the next bauble from her, this time green, and gingerly looped the string over the needles.

It held.

"I did it!"

"Very good, love!"

Teddy's hair shifted black as the two of them giggled at one another, and Harry's nervous heart leapt into his throat.

He wanted.

Harry shook it off, digging out more baubles for Teddy to place on the tree, and allowing the toddler to critique his own placement.

"No, not there!"

"Oh? Where should it go then?"

"Up there!" He pointed to a place near the top of the tree, and Harry reached up and placed the gold bauble in the only open spot he could see.

"That better mate?"

"Yes, that's okay."

Harry looked down and realised that there had been another gold bauble near where he'd been about to place his. Teddy was awfully fussy about colours. Harry wondered what Remus would have made of his son's little quirks as his personality developed. Probably some fond exasperation at times, but always accepting. The man had worried ceaselessly, but had been unfailingly patient and kind. It was a shame Teddy would never know him.

There weren't many personalised ornaments that Harry owned just yet, this being his first proper Christmas tree, but there was one set he'd had commissioned.

"Teddy, do you see these?" He held two of the ornaments up for the boy to see. "What are they?"

"Wolf?"

"That's right. They're wolves. Do you know who they're for?" Teddy shook his head, his big brown eyes wide. "This one here is for your mum. See how it changes colour in the light?"

"Like mummy?"

"Exactly like mummy. And this one," he lifted the other. "See how it's all foggy looking?"

"Like Prongs?"

"Yes, just like Prongs. Your dad was the one who taught me how to cast Prongs. He protected me, just like he protected you."

Teddy frowned, considering this very seriously for a moment before he reached for the ornament. Harry gently pressed Remus' wolf into his waiting hand. Ginny leaned towards the tree to give him a better angle, ready to catch the glass if it fell.

But Teddy's little fingers were quick and careful, and he placed the wolf in the tree without incident. He reached for the next, and Harry gave him Tonks, shocked to the core when he saw the boy break his pattern to place her next to Remus.

"Mummy and Daddy have to stay together," he said matter of factly.

"Yeah," Harry managed as though the wind hadn't just completely been knocked out of him. "Yeah, they do."

Ginny recovered first, bless her.

"Teddy, would it be alright if we put their friends up near them?"

"Okay."

They placed the dog just above and to the right of the wolf couple, and the stag somewhere off to the left. Harry took a deep breath, kneeling down to grab the last ornament, holding it up for Ginny to take.

"This one's yours, if you want it."

She turned to take it from him, pausing at the sight of the ring around the little doe's neck.

"Harry, is that…?"

"I'm not very good with speeches," he says softly, ignoring the way his voice was shaking. "But I don't think you need some grand declaration, you never have, and that's what I love about you. I love bloody everything about you, and I love this," he gestured helplessly at her, standing with Teddy in her arms, watching him with strangely misty eyes.

He took another deep breath to steady himself.

"You make me feel like I belong somewhere. And I just thought that… I dunno… that I belong with you."

Ginny knelt in front of him, releasing Teddy and taking the doe from his trembling hands.

"You know," she said, in an equally shaky voice, and he allowed himself to hope. "Only you would say 'I'm not good at speeches' and then proceed to give one like that."

She took the ring and placed it on her finger before grabbing him by his shirt collar and crushing her lips against his.

Mindful of the toddler in the room, they broke apart after just a moment, punch-drunk and giddy.

"I take it that's a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes, you prat." She rolled back onto her heels, standing and placing his mother's ornament in its rightful place next to his father's.

"Well," he said, climbing to his feet. "Happy Christmas?"

"Happy Christmas!" Teddy squealed, and Harry picked him back up, swinging him around playfully as Ginny's bright laughter filled the room.

The ghosts of his family glowed softly in the fairy lights, silently watching over the happy scene below.

All was bright.

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely didn't make myself cry like a giant baby writing this. Nope.


End file.
